White Christmas

Hello!  It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon in central Illinois today, but it may be the last one for a few days.  Rain showers are moving in with a high chance of rain and cooler temps each day through next weekend. 

I did a little scrapping and stamping this weekend and finished a two page winter themed layout and four Christmas cards.  Guess the cold, windy day yesterday inspired me!  This is the right hand page of the layout.  Icy blues and greys for a December snowstorm.  I'm really happy with the cards I completed as well.  I had an idea in mind before I ever started working on them, but ended up with something completely different.  Guess I'll save my original idea for the May Christmas cards! 

Till next week.....

Sweet Little Abby

Well, I haven't done very well goal-wise these past two weeks.  Last week I completed a card, but no layout and this week I completed a layout, but no card.  Last week at least I had a good reason as I was out of town, but this weekend my excuse is pretty weak......I was absorbed in a Dexter Season 2 marathon.  Have you ever watched Dexter?  He's a forensic investigator in blood splatter for the Miami Police Department by day and a serial killer by night (but he only kills criminals).  The series was recommended to me and it finally came up in my Netflix list a couple months ago.  Loved season 1 so much, I added season 2.  I'm adding season 3 as soon as I finish this post.....yes, it's an addiction.

This weekends layout is actually two pages, but I'm only showing one of them.  Love the scallop die cut paper with the happy birds.  It doesn't really need a lot of embellishment, but I added a little ribbon and a few brads.  The title, 'Abby', is on the second page.  I still need to do a little journaling, but I want to make sure I have her birthday right. 

Hopefully I can get back on track next week and manage to finish a few cards AND a layout.....we'll see. 

Dots, Dots and More Dots

Do you love this or what?

Just a quick post this weekend, family stuff on the schedule.  I was blog surfing and found a very similar card by Nicole Heady.  I fell in love with the design and had to try it out myself.  Very simple, very quick and I can't wait to try it out with different colors; I'm thinking blues, greens and purples!

Have a great weekend! 

Thrasher?

What's going on here?  It's only Saturday and my weekly post is already up??  Let me just say it is FREEZING here today.  Cloudy, cold, rainy.....blah.....good day to scrapbook.  The mystery papers I picked this week are very masculine.  Navy blue, light blue, dark green.....perfect for an event involving tractors.

I had never heard of a Thrasherman, much less known about their yearly festival in a local town.  But one warm, sunny, beautiful October morning the family headed to an orchard to have lunch, wander through the pumpkin patch, have our picture taken on a haystack and watch little kids try to carry pumpkins as big as they are. 

On the way to the orchard, I discover we're stopping to see the Thrashers.  Who?  What?  I thought it kinda sounded like the people that stomp on grapes to make wine.  Reminded me of that hilarious I Love Lucy episode.  Nope, no wine.  I'm still not entirely sure what a Thrasher is, but it has something to do with steam and engines and farming.  The event was a cross between a tractor pull and a flea market with funnel cakes.  So this layout commemorates my first, and last, Thrasher Festival.  The last line of my journaling says it all.....lots of guys in overalls. 

Till next week......

Vintage Christmas

Happy Sunday to you!  I can feel it in the air....Spring is almost here!  The days are longer, the sun shines through the clouds more often, March Madness is on TV, the birds are chirping and the rabbits and squirrels  are running around the yard.  My scrapbook work area looks out a sliding glass door into the back yard so I've been watching the acrobatics of the squirrels today. 

I worked on my Christmas in March cards this morning.  I used a 6 x 6 vintage Christmas paper pack from Webster's Pages.  The graphics are amazing on both sides of the paper and everything coordinates really well.  I completed two 5x7 cards and two 4.25 x 5.5 cards.  Very simple, but since I mail most of my cards, they need to be flat.  The vintage papers have the appearance of multiple layers but without the bulk. 

I picked my layout mystery paper last night.  I was hoping for something I could use for wedding photos, but instead picked a set with bright orange and turquoise.  I'm all for using non traditional color combinations, but I don't think the patterned paper with the cartoon lions will work well with formal dress attire.  Looks like I'm heading to the birthday pictures for this layout!  

Vintage Birthday Card

Hello Again, jumping right into this weeks card.  I love the look of vintage cards and layouts but I have a very difficult time achieving the look.  This is my latest attempt.  Kinda close.  I started by using a border leaf stamp with Versamark ink and stamped the border repeatedly down the cardstock to create the background.  Next I stamped and colored the glass canning jar.  The lid and label were stamped separately onto patterned paper and hand cut to layer over the jar.  Note to self:  Pick up the jar dies :-)  The key to vintage is in the layers.  With this in mind, I added a doily and matching plum ribbon.  The focal point felt like it still needed something so I added the tail of a paper ribbon peeking out behind the jar in yellow. 

My Grandmother's 90th Birthday is next week and this card is heading her direction.  I layerd a little on the inside as well.  Hope she likes it.

Now, I'm off to work on this weeks layout.  I have the papers picked out but still need to look through the photos.  And, I have a few ideas floating around the old noggin for Christmas cards I still need to work on for March.  Till next week.....

Baby Shower

Did you think I forgot about you?  I didn't forget, but I was so far out of the scrappy mood this weekend I wasn't sure I would get anything finished!  Believe me, if there had been anything halfway interesting on TV I would not be posting right now.  I think it's the weather.  We had several days in a row of sunny, 50-60 degree temps and Spring seemed to be right around the corner and then the thunderstorms started Friday night.  Saturday was full of gray, a steady rain and chilly temps, which are just depressing when you're longing for Spring.

I did spend a few hours blog surfing yesterday and found a sketch support blog for cards and layouts.  I found one card sketch that really impressed me with the variety of ways the designers interpreted the elements.  I ended up creating a birthday card full of bright, cheerful colors.  I think I'm going to try the same sketch again using pastel shades or maybe try to make it monochromatic. 

Since I seemed to be making a little scrappy progress, I decided to go ahead and select a layout package.  The one I selected only had three pieces of single sided patterned paper: a stripe, a floral and a page with multi-colored elephants.  Yes, I said colored elephants.  No embellishments, no ribbon and no cardstock!  Huh, what am I supposed to do with that??   Well, the colors aren't quite pastel, but I thought I could turn it into a baby layout.  Like I said earlier, I wasn't in full scrappy brain mode, but I think it turned out OK.  I mirrored the single page layout so the baby shower pics are on the left side and the hospital pictures are on the right side.  And, without any embellishments in the package, I was able to use a few flowers, gemstones, tags and letters.  Here's to warmer temps, sunny days and scrappy brains!  Cheers!